Dutch Antilles' house in The Hague becomes KLM Delftware house no. 91

Summary

In celebration of its 91st anniversary, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will introduce a new Delftware house on Thursday, 7 October. The 91st Delftware house in KLM’s collection will be the Dutch Antilles’ House in The Hague. KLM President & CEO Peter Hartman will hand over the new Delftware house to the Mayor of The Hague, Jozias van Aartsen and Marcel van der Plank, Authorised Representative Minister of the Netherlands Antilles in Madurodam, The Hague on Thursday, 7 October. The miniature Dutch Antilles’ House will be revealed at the same time in Madurodam.

KLM is celebrating its 91st anniversary today. The ‘Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij voor Nederland en Koloniën’ (KLM Royal Dutch Airlines) was founded on 7 October 1919. KLM is the oldest scheduled airline in the world still operating under its original name.

In replicating the Dutch Antilles’ House, KLM hopes to reinforce its historically strong ties with the Netherlands Antilles. On 15 December 1934, KLM operated its first transatlantic flight to Curaçao with the Fokker F-XVIII ‘Snip’ on the occasion of celebrating 300 years of Dutch administration on the islands of the Netherlands Antilles. KLM President & CEO Peter Hartman: “With this flight, KLM established the foundations for the route network to the Netherlands Antilles. The flights proved successful then and the same applies today. Each year, KLM carries more than 150,000 passengers to the islands of Curaçao, Bonaire and Sint Maarten. This just goes to show how popular the Netherlands Antilles are amongst our passengers.”

KLM has been dishing out Delftware houses on board since the 1950s. The houses are replicas of exceptional buildings in the Netherlands. The number of houses in the collection has corresponded with KLM’s age since 1994. A new house has been added to the collection each year thereafter on 7 October. The houses are presented to passengers travelling in World Business Class on intercontinental flights.